No school like…

* Leave it to Badger is only Badger’s opinion and how he sees things. it doesn’t reflect that of any person or entity or company, past or present. If you don’t like his opinion, or you do like it, send an email to failatpdcast@gmail.com

I has games. Old games, newer games, indie games, triple-a title games…. I has games. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine gave me some of his games he didn’t play anymore. Diablo 2, Warcraft: Orcs Vs Humans, Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, Age of Empires Gold and AoE 2… All older PC games, all great PC games.

Point is, I started playing Age of Empires 2 again and realized how great that game is, even 11 years later. It’s graphically not as great as I remember, sure doesn’t look like Shogun 2 or anything, but that doesn’t matter because it’s still a great game with amazing gameplay. I remember back in the day (holy crap, I can’t believe I can legitimately use that phrase) playing Diablo 2, AoE 2 and Warcraft 2 for hours and hours on end. Those were amazing games. Now, I’ve logged a couple hours in L4D2 and the such, but nothing like what I put into those old games. It really took me back to a time where gameplay was first, then graphics.

But that’s a discussion for a podcast topic, and this isn’t the podcast, this is Leave it to Badger. I wanna talk about some of the games that I grew up playing and some that helped form my opinions on games. Age of Empires 2, Diablo, Ultima Online, Command and Conquer: Red Alert… those were some of my favorite games and arguably some of the best games or series of games made. I used to play UO while listening to Megadeth, and to this day, whenever I hear some songs by Megadeth, I can see UO being played. I see my miner/blacksmith digging away at some iron, then going back to the city to smelt it and forge a sword or breastplate. I can see the houses and the guards and the beasts. Of course, this was back when UO was pretty much the only MMO out there and was free to play after initial purchase.

I remember spending almost days on a custom skirmish in Red Alert or AoE2, trying to find ways to better my AI opponents or real opponents. I even started to do a small blog on a geocities account I had to do a How To for RTS games. Like the best ways to beat an opponent, or the best strategies to survive this scenario, ya know, kid stuff. I had an assassin in D2 that was WAY o.p. I could walk into a full room, drop 3 or 4 dragon pilons and walk out of the room. 10 seconds later and the room was empty. Didn’t matter what level I would go to, the jungle, the desert, Tristram, I would wipe them all.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of the games that are out now, such as Plants Vs Zombies, Rift, Minecraft, but there’s just something about all the old games that just puts a smile on my face and makes my heart just a tad bit warmer. Guess that’s just nostalgia kickin’ in….